Chapter Seventy-Three: The Beginning of New Life

  The summer rain fell suddenly, just as the strong wind was howling, before I could even react, the heavy rain poured down.

  Along with the heavy rain came thunder and lightning, each earth-shattering clap of thunder seemed to be right above the roof, and every flash of lightning illuminated the window. Tiger was very afraid of thunderstorms, and even though he was asleep, he slept restlessly, his forehead constantly breaking out in cold sweat, and his body kept twisting and turning, his face filled with terror.

  Qī Zhēn ér hugged Hǔ Zǐ, gently patting his back. She didn't know if he felt the familiar embrace and breath, but soon he calmed down and fell asleep.

  When the tiger son fell asleep, Qi Zhen'er quietly released him and stepped over Ye Baiji who was sleeping on the edge of the bed. She carefully lit the kerosene lamp and looked around. She had never lived in a thatched hut before and didn't know if it was waterproof or not. With such strong winds outside, she wasn't sure if the grass on the roof would be blown away. Feeling uneasy, she decided to get up and take a look.

  Fortunately, the storm subsided overnight, and by dawn the next day, it had calmed down. Qizhen didn't sleep well all night and rushed to the courtyard at first light to check on the roof. Fortunately, the roof looked still quite intact and hadn't been blown out of shape by the wind.

  She went to the kitchen to cook again, and saw that the water bucket was slowly filling up. Only then did she remember that she should put buying chicken and pork on her agenda. Actually, raising ducks is also an option, as she had heard that ducks need to swim in the water during the summer. Luckily, there's a small stream not far from her home, which, although small, counts as water too.

  Zi Zhen'er was thinking about what to raise to get rich, when she heard a scream coming from the house. She hastily dropped the fire tongs and rushed inside, colliding with Ye Baiji at the door. Both of them fell to the ground, one covering her head and the other clutching her chin, both crying out in pain.

  Qī Zhēnér rubbed her head, and hurriedly went to support Yè Bái zhǐ, anxiously asking: "Sister Bai, does it hurt? What are you doing in such a fluster? I even heard you scream."

  Ye Baiji rubbed her chin and gave Qi Zhen'er a disgruntled look. She asked, "When did you wake up? Why didn't you wake me?"

  "I was startled awake by the thunder last night. Such a big noise didn't even wake you up. How could I have woken you?" Qizhen teased, then pointed to the courtyard and said: "Bai Zhi sister, I remember that when we went to sleep last night, the courtyard was still full of tables and chairs, and the bowls and dishes hadn't been put away yet. But how come when I got up early this morning, they were all gone? Did I misremember?" Qizhen looked at the courtyard in confusion.

  Ye Baiji rolled her eyes and said, "You're not mistaken, the things weren't returned when you were sleeping. However, you slept for a whole day and night, and yesterday morning, your uncle and the others came to return the things."

  Zijin'er was shocked to hear that, when did she become so sleepy? At dinner time, Ye Baijiu brought a large bowl of black medicine, and she knew it was still because her body was too weak.

  "Also, Lu Yuan asked me to tell you that the dog thing has been settled. In the village, Ma Lao San is a skilled hunter. His dog is big and fierce, and it's about to give birth in these two days, he's already made arrangements, at that time he'll give you one to raise." Ye Bai Ji said.

  Qī Zhēnér listened with joy. She said she wanted to raise a fierce one, but it was just an idea, after all, the dogs in rural households were generally not very fierce, and unexpectedly, Yè Lùyuǎn really did it.

  This morning, there was an episode where Hu Zi got out of bed and started crying loudly. The reason was that his sister Bai Zhi wasn't on the bed. He thought something had happened to her and cried uncontrollably until Qizhen told him that his sister's illness was better, then he stopped crying.

  Zi Zhen'er didn't expect that her long-awaited new life would start in such an unconventional way.

  After dinner, Qizhen thought that she had been sleeping for two days and Laoyezi and Ma Shi were worried, so she wanted to go over and report her safety. There was no raincoat or umbrella at home, so the three of them took advantage of the small rain and rushed to Ye's house.

  Because of the old man's clinic being nearby, the three of them rushed directly to the clinic. Coincidentally, an elderly patient had just left after a consultation, and the old man was now free. Seeing Qī Zhēnér arrive, he first scolded her for getting rained on, then took her hand and began to take her pulse.

  "There's nothing wrong now." The old man said, "However, you still need to be careful lately, don't overwork yourself, and don't think too much. Children's minds are not fully developed yet, thinking too much will hurt their heart and mind."

  Qī Zhēn'er smiled and nodded, indicating she understood.

  Ye Baiji smiled innocently beside him, who let you sleep for two days and made me worry.

  Who would have thought that the old man turned around and began to scold her, "Zhi Yaotou, how can you come over in such a big rain? They are too young to understand, but you don't know either? Hu Zi's body is weak, Zhen Er's illness has just recovered, and as a girl, your body is naturally cold, how can you get wet?"

  The three men scolded by Old Ye almost lowered their heads to the ground, if no one came to see the doctor, Old Ye might not let them off.

  Three people rushed into the house, chattering and laughing. Ye Baiji was still puzzled: "Grandfather, why did you talk so much today? He usually wouldn't speak ill of others casually."

  Qī Zhēn ér also felt that Old Master was a bit strange today, his eyebrows were tightly locked, as if he had something on his mind, "Maybe he has some troubles."

  Ye Bai Zhi also felt this way.

  As soon as they entered the house, they knew why the old man was in a bad mood.

  "...Last night was very windy and rainy, I don't know how the wheat is doing? This is the time for harvesting, encountering this situation, if there's a reduced yield it would be a huge loss." Mrs. Mao frowned, her face full of worry.

  This year, their family planted a lot of wheat. Not only did they plant it themselves, but also Ye Shi Xie and Ye Shi Yan brothers. At first, the old master bought land for them to do business, but the two families didn't care about it and left it all to be planted by their family. The one in charge was afraid that things wouldn't be managed properly, so they just planted wheat everywhere. If the harvest is good, then it's fine, but if the yield is low, who knows what kind of annoying words those people will say?

  Although Sun's personality is a bit timid, she is not stupid. This is Sun giving her advance prevention shots. They have been taking good care of you all along, and the wheat has been growing well too. Now that it's raining, there's no reduction in yield, which is great. A reduction would be a disaster. They've done their best.

  "Sister-in-law, I know you've done a lot for us. Not to mention letting us live together, it's that land, even her father doesn't know where he bought it from, and my mother and the others don't understand these things, but it was you and her uncle who cultivated it." Sun said gratefully, "This is an act of God, none of us expected it, so sister-in-law shouldn't worry too much. After all, having some harvest is better than her father taking all the money to gamble it away."

  The Mao family knew that the Sun family was reasonable, unlike what she said to the Jiang family, which explicitly and implicitly stated that they did not do their best. If they had known it would rain, they should have harvested in advance, and it would have been spared from being washed away by the rain.

  Let's not talk about whether she is the one who decides when it rains, but rather that their family helps them with both planting and harvesting, they don't take advantage of her, what are they after, isn't it just thinking of being close brothers, helping each other out. When it comes to her mouth, it sounds like even if there's a decrease in production, they're the ones who should be responsible for it. Besides, it's not even clear yet whether production has decreased or not, speaking like that is quite reckless.

  "Brother and sister, what happened today wasn't actually aimed at you. Our family helped with the farm work, but it's not like we're getting anything out of it. Su Mu is all grown up now, he's almost a father himself, and his father said he needs to work harder and earn more money so that in the future they can send their kids to school. Although our family isn't some kind of scholarly clan, the kids are all literate. They'll definitely be going to school. This season's wheat harvest we helped with, but from now on what you plant is up to you and Second Uncle to decide. The head of the household said that if you want to farm it yourself, he'll help you find two reliable short-term workers. If you want to rent it out, that's fine too, whatever you think."

  Sun's eyes turned red with anger, it was originally fine, how did it end up like this?